Musical instrument.



PATENTBD NOV. 3, 1903.

J. O'GONNOR.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATION FILED MAY. 31, 1900.

No MODEL.

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Patented November 3, 1903.

PATENT OEEICE.

JAMES OCONNOR, OF NEW YORK, N. Y.

MUSICAL INSTRUMENT.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 743,319, dated November 3, 1903.

Application filed May 31,1900.

To all whom t may concern:

Beit known thatI, JAMES. OCONNOR, a citizen of the United States of America, and a resident of New York, in the county of New York and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Musical Instruments, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in the arrangement of the actuating devices of those musical and similar instruments the operation of which is controlled by a notesheet or selector made of paper or similar material which is liable to expand and contract under varying influences of atmospheric changes, the object of the invention being to arrange those devices and the corre-spending` selecting mediums of the note-sheet in such a way that the expansion and contraction or shifting thereof shall not seriously interfere with the correct operation of the instrument.

Figure 1 of the drawings is a plan view of a selector or note-sheet provided with perforations which are arranged in groups in accordance. with this invention. Fig. 2 is a corresponding view of the tracker-bar, the apertures of which are also grouped to correspond with the arrangement of the perforations of the note-sheet. Fig. 3 is a plan view of a tracker-bar having its apertures arranged in groups, having intervals between them of progressively increasing pitch.

In order to operate musical instruments automatically, it is customary to arrange the actuating devices, ngers, or keys thereof side by side in one or more lines, those devices being controlled or actuated by means of a longitudinal traveling strip or web having corresponding parallel rows of projections Serial No.18.484. (No model.)

because of its greater cheapness and flexibility and because of the ease and cheapness of reproducing and transporting music in this form. This medium is, however, open to the very serious objection that it is sensitive to the humidity of the atmosphere, ex-

panding in a humid atmosphere and contracting when the air is dry. This expansion and contraction, in so far as it aifects the note -sheet in a longitudinal direction, involves no serious disturbance in the operation of the instrument, so long as it is uniform across the sheet, and excepting those instances in which two or more sheets operate in a concerted relation; but the lateral divergence of the perforation of the sheet, due to its contraction and expansion, to inaccuracies of perforating and trimming the sheet, or to a certain requisite lateral play between the flanges of its guiding-rolls, is often suflicient to move those perforations not only entirely out of coincidence with their respective apertures of the tracker-bar, but into coincidence with some of the other apertures. Thus the excessive contraction, expansion, and bodily lateral movement of the sheet may serve not only to prevent the sounding of the intended notes, but may also cause the sounding of other and discordant notes. This diflicnlty obviously increases with the width of the sheet and has been so fully recognized by those familiar with the subject that it is customary to avoid the use of wide notesheets. To this end the apertures both of the note-sheet and of the tracker-bar have been made as small as possible and have been crowded closely together; but although this permitted the use of a narrower musicsheet it also correspondinglydiminished the amount of permissible lateral divergence thereof. For example, if the perforations and apertures were made one-eighth of an inch in width this would permit of a corresponding amount of lateral divergence of the perforations without moving them entirely out of coincidence with their respective apertures; but if the width of these perforations were reduced one-half-namely, to a width of one-sixteenth of an inch-the permissible lateral divergence would also be reduced one-half. These difficulties and objections are still further increased and emphasized by IOO ine customary manner of arranging the apertures, iin gers, or keys of the respective notes in the order and sequence in which the notes follow each other in the chromatic scale through the several octaves comprised in the range of the instrument after the manner of the keys of a piano and substantially all other manuallyoperated instruments. In fact, this practice as to self-playing instruments is evidently a needless survival of the practice prevailing in those manually-operated instruments, inasmuch as the reasons therefor do not apply in the case of self-play-` ing instruments. The controlling' devices for seleetin g the notes to be sounded in a sell'- playing instrument are not dependent upon such a consecutive arrangement of the notes. In fact, that arrangement is a disadvantage, inasmuch as the effect of any considerable divergence or displacement of the controller, selector, or note-sheet would be equivalent to that produced by striking some of the keys of a piano adjacent to those called for by the musical composition being rendered. In the present invention these difficulties and objections are obviated by grouping together the selecting devices of those notes which can harmoniously be sounded together and leaving an interval between each of the adjacent groups of apertures and perforations of a width greater than any possible lateral displacement of that portion of the note-sheet due to the contraction, expansion, or bodily displacement of the note-sheet.

lVhile it is obvious that any of the notes forming a harmonious chord maybe thus comprised in a single group-such as thirds, iifths, &c.-I prefer to bring together into the single groups only those notes having an interval of an octave between them, so that in case of the lateral divergence of a perforation suiiicient to uncover an aperture adjacent to the one intended the note thus sounded will not only harmonize with the one intended, but Will be either an octave above or below the intended note, thereby maintaining not only the musical harmony, but the melody of the composition.

Fig. 2 represents a tracker -bar 5, having its apertures 6 arranged in twelve groups, representing all the semitones of the chromatic scale, each group being designated by the letter ordinarily employed for the corresponding notes, as a, a, b, c, c5, die. The number of apertures in each of these groups is equal to the number of octaves comprised in the range of the instrument, the tracker-bar herein shown being intended for use in connection with an instrument having a range of fouroetaves, the four a notes of which are represented upon the tracker-bar 5 by the four apertures in the group a, and so on. The intervals 7 between the groups of apertures are in this iigure shown to be of substantially equal width. The perforations S of the note-sheet 9 are similarly grouped, forming a series of twelve zones, running longitudinally of the sheet, each zone comprizing four rows of perforations i'or sounding the same note in each of the four octaves comprised in the range oi' the instrument. rlhe intervals lO between these Zones, like the corresponding intervals 7 of the tracker-bar 5, are herein shown to be substantially equal in width. The width oi' the intervals between these Zones and oithe corresponding intervals between the groups of apertures in the tracker-bar should be somewhat greater than any possible lateral divergence of the respective portions of the note-sheet due to its contraction and expansion or to any other cause. That width may be equal between all the notes, zones, and groups, or it may be varied with a pitch increasing in accordance with the ratio of the lat-eral expansion or contraction oi' the notesheet.

In the tracker-bar l5 (shown in Fig. 3) the groups of apertures are shown to be separated by the intervals i6, 17, 18, i9, 20, and 2l, which increase in width in the order here given approximately in accordance with the ratio of expansion of the corresponding portions of the music-sheet from its longitudinal center, which is herein assumed to be maintained substantially in accordance with the central portion oi' the tracker-bar. If the lateral position of the note-sheet is regulated by one of its edges-as by the flange of a guiding-roll, for example-then in that case the increasing width of the intervals should begin from that edge. Obviously the notesheet to be employed in conjunction with this trackerbar should have its zones of perforations and its intervals between those zones arranged in accordance with those of the tracker-bar. This arrangement (shown in Fig. 3) allows of a still more compact arrange ment of the apertures and perforations laterally of the sheet, as shown by comparison of the lengths of the tracker-bars 5 and i5 of Figs. 2 and 3, both of which are arranged for forty-eight notes.

It is not essential that the groups of aper tures of the tracker-bar and the corresponding zones of perforations in the music-sheet shall be arranged in the regular sequence of the musical scale, as herein shown. Obviously this arrangement may be varied to any desired extent to suit the arrangements of the note-sounding devices of dii'erent instruments or to suit any more convenient system of perforating the note-sheets.

I claim as my inventionl. In a self-playing musical instrument, a series of note-controlling devices for coperating with a note-sheet, and arranged in isolated groups separated by a space interval substantially greater than that between the devices constituting the group, each group comprising the devices for controlling the notes of a harmonic chord.,

2. In combination with a self-playing musical instrument provided with a series of note- IlO III;

sounding devices, a series of note-controlling devices therefor, adapted to cooperate with a notesheet, and arranged in separated groups, each group comprising the devices for controlling the notes of aliarmonic chord.

3. In a self-playing musical instrument, a series of note-controlling devices for coperating With a note-sheet, arranged in isolated groups separated by a space interval substantially greater than that between the devices constituting a group, each group comprising the devices for sounding a note in a plurality or' its octaves.

et. In a self-playing musical instrument, a series of note-controlling devices for coperating With a note-sheet, arranged in separated groups corresponding in number with the notes of the chromatic scale, each group comprising the devices for sounding a plurality of octaves of the same note.

5. In combination With note-soun ding devices, a tracker-bar provided with a series of note-apertures arranged in separated groups and operatively connected With the notesounding devices, each group comprising the apertures for the octaves of the same note.

6. In combination With note-sounding devices, a traeker--bar provided With apertures arranged in separated groups corresponding With the notes of a musical scale and operatively connected With the note-sounding devices, each group comprising the apertures l being separated from each other by space intervals of increasing pitch, substantially in accordance With the ratio of lateral expansion or contraction of the note-sheet.

9. A note-sheet for musical instruments, having its note representations arranged in separated zones, each zone comprising the representations of notes forming a harmonic chord.

l0. A note-sheet for musical instruments, having its note representations arranged in separated zones, each zone comprising the representations of a note in a plurality of its octaves.

1l. A note-sheet for musical instruments, having its note representations arranged in a series of separated longitudinal zones, each zone comprising the representations for harmonic sounds of a note, and the series of zones representing a chromatic scale of notes.

l2. A controlling-sheet for self-playing musical instruments having its note devices arranged in a series of zones, each containing the associated devices for the octaves oi a note, the zones being separated by intervals increasing in Width from a longitudinal base-line, in a ratio substantially in accordance With the contraction and expansion of the sheet.

13. A perforated note-sheet for self-playing musical instruments having its note-perforations arranged in a series of zones corresponding With the notes of a musical scale, the zones comprising the associated perforations for the octaves of the respective notes, and the zones being separated by intervals Which increase in width from a longitudinal base-line in a ratio substantially in accordance with the contraction and expansion of the note-sheet.

Signed at New York, N. Y., this 24th day of May, 1900.

JAMES OCONNOR.

lVitnesses:

E. DoBBINs, RICHARD L. STAFFORD. 

